Twin Lakes

Nick and I just got home from a great vacation with my family up in Washington. Sadly, we are lame and didn't take many pictures. The one I do have for this post was stolen from my cousin's facebook (Thanks Ali!) We had a very relaxing week. Here's a quick recap:

• fishing- Nick went almost everyday, I tagged along twice
• dock sitting-we both came back a little darker, and I got 2 books read
• swimming- cold water, but lots of fun
  
• skiing, wakeboarding, tubing- I did it all, sadly Nick's monster feet wouldn't fit in any of our boards so he cheered me on from the boat
• lots of FOOD- seriously, every night we had a delicious feast. plus lots of snacks in between
• Naps- we started as early as 9am somedays (getting up early to fish can be hard)
• family time- I think they might like Nick more than me now! I won't be allowed to go anywhere without him
• cards- my family is a bunch of gamers. We played a new game called Munchkin with my cousin Julie, it was lots of fun.
• and last but not least...BEAR TRAPPING

I have to explain that last one. I had been telling Nick before we got there about how pretty it was and how many animals he would see. There are bald eagles, beaver dams, loons, deer, elk, moose and bears. He was pretty excited about the bears because he'd never seen one, but also a little skeptical that I was making up stories. So from the first night we heard stories from my aunts and uncles that had already been there for a week. They said every night the bear was there looting the trash cans. He came like clockwork about 1am. We were excited! But apparently there was a woman at the other end of the camp from us trying to bait the bear, so he never made it down to our end. Not cool! After 4 nights of hearing everybody elses bear stories we took matters into our own hands....

Dinner one night was salmon that my cousin Jason had caught. (delicious) We decided it was our turn to see the bear so we collected all the plates and salmon scraps and Nick devised a great trap. We set the bags on top of the picnic table in front of our cabin, and then got a garbage can lid to set on top of them so we would hear the bear knock it off. It worked perfectly! At midnight there was a clang in front of the cabin and we rushed to the window. The bear was there enjoying all the salmon for about 10 minutes. Pretty cool. The camera flashes and porch light didn't even phase him; he just hid behind a tree and kept on eating.

Here's the proof:


Now we have a crazy week ahead of us. I have to work everyday, and we have to get all packed up and out of our apartment by the 1st. It will be crazy, but there was no way we were cutting vacation time short.

Accident Prone

So I tend to be accident prone, but only at really inconvenient times. Over the past couple of months I've had a series of minor "accidents". Luckily nothing too bad has happened, but when added all up its getting to be quite expensive...

First off, I had my purse stolen out of my car a few months ago at my mission reunion. Apparently I'm the only person who didn't know that Taylorsville was super ghetto. So, I had to plan a trip down to Vegas to replace my license, get the car window fixed and replace my Kindle. Got to be a pretty pricey "accident" pretty quickly.

Next off in my series of misfortunes happened during a trip to California. Nick and I were staying with my friend Brittany and her husband. We had a great time, including Nick's first trip to Disneyland. BUT, with my luck something had to happen. Our last night of the stay I was getting out of the shower, and I still don't know how it happened, but as I was closing the sliding glass door I watched it shatter into lots of little pieces. I didn't slam it or anything. In fact my hand was still in the air where the door should have been as I was sliding it closed. I later discovered that the little rubber stopper that should have been there to catch the door was unfortunately sitting on the counter next to the shower. Anyway, we got that fixed with a little help from Brit, but the cost of my accidents was quickly increasing.

My latest incident happened just today. I've been stressing a little bit because we are moving the end of this month and my last day of work isn't til the 31st. We have lots to get done and not much time to do it. So the incident happened as I was pulling into our complex after a 7-11 run after work. I heard a loud pop! My car clunked into a parking spot and when I got out my tire was destroyed. Completely flat. No hope of just adding a little air and calling it good. So now I have to add new tires to my to do list. I'm too lazy to go change to the spare in this July heat, so I'm postponing my errands til later too.

Sorry this was so long! Hopefully I won't have anymore to add to this list for a LONG time.

kind of ghetto...

I've had lots of time to work on my little quilt project since Nick has been in China this week. I took out my sewing machine and just left everything all set up in the kitchen and all my fabric strewn around the living room since it was in no one's way but mine. I have gotten a lot done. The end of this project is in sight... then we'll see if I have the motivation to start another one. So I couldn't find a camera to use to take a picture of my progress, except the one on my computer. So it is kind of ghetto and the bottom is cut off, but at least you can get an idea of what I've been working on.




All I have left to do is a little bit of embroidering (ie. give the bird some legs) and then add the back and binding and get it quilted. I don't think I'm going to try to do that part myself though. I can't wait til its all done!

I can't wait....

For the final Harry Potter movies! I just watched the trailer today and I am so excited. Just thought I'd share. Oh and by the way waiting until next July to release the second half is just cruel.

One step closer...

My passport came back in the mail yesterday renewed and with my name changed (and of course with the worst picture of me I've ever seen). Now we can get serious about buying our plane tickets to China. Crazy. We'll probably get them sometime in the next week! As of right now the plan is to leave the end of August, and come back...whenever. That plan still changes just about everyday, so lets say anywhere from a few months to a few years.

Any and all visitors will be welcome to come visit us out there! I would love the company and I promise I will study up and be a great tour guide. I might even speak some Chinese by then (at least more than the 10 words I know now). Let me know if you're even a tiny bit interested in coming out and I'll do my best to convince you.

New Project

I decided a few weeks ago I needed a project this summer after school got out. So one day at the library with nick I found a book called Contemporary Modern Quilts. I found one that I absolutely loved, and decided to give it a try. Especially since I currently work with a woman who has made tons of quilts. I figured I better take advantage of her expertise while I still can. It's an applique quilt, meaning lots of hand-sewing for me. I got all the fabrics and special cutting boards, etc. I finally got started on it Saturday. So far it's going well and I'm still excited about it. Hopefully I can stay excited for the whole project. Nick tells me I have to finish after all the money I spent on it. Pictures to come if it turns out cute!

So proud...

I figured out how to change the background and make it prettier. I never thought this day would come...I had resigned myself to the template options blogspot gave me. It's amazing what happens during summer when I no longer have school and have to find ways to kill time in between work.